Capital Research and Management, which runs American Funds, is beginning to recover from the 2008 financial crisis. Chairman James Rothenberg makes its case for active management.

How times have changed. Once the largest fund company and a darling of financial advisors, American Funds was famously reticent. The funds, run by the venerable Capital Research and Management, never advertised, and its portfolio managers refused to speak to the press, preferring to let their funds' performance do the talking. But beginning in 2008, the funds didn't have anything good to say. Poor performance during the financial crisis and its aftermath triggered more than $250 billion in net outflows in the past five years.